Charles de Gaulle(French Leader)

Date of Birth:

November 22, 1890

Date of Death:

November 9, 1970

Nationality:

French

Quote count:

84

Times favorited:

35

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II and later founded the French Fifth Republic and served as its first President. In France, he is commonly referred to as Général de Gaulle or simply Le Général, or familiarly as "le Grand Charles".

A veteran of World War I, in the 1920s and 1930s de Gaulle came to the fore as a proponent of armoured warfare and advocate of military aviation, which he considered resolutive means to break the stalemate of trench warfare. During World War II, he reached the rank of Brigadier General, leading one of the few successful armoured counter-attacks during the 1940 Fall of France and organised the Free French Forces with exiled French officers in England. He gave a famous radio address in 1940, exhorting the French people to resist Nazi Germany. Following the liberation of France in 1944, de Gaulle became prime minister in the French Provisional Government. Although he retired from politics in 1946 due to political conflicts, he was returned to power with military support following the May 1958 crisis. De Gaulle led the writing of a new constitution founding the Fifth Republic, and was elected the President of France.